Monthly Archives: June 2011

AnoHana, short for Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day) is probably the best anime to come out this season. Even then, I wouldn’t just preclude it to being great within its medium. Ano Hana is an enjoyable series that stands at about the same level as other great works of television, like Mad Men or Life on Mars.

For those who haven’t seen it, AnoHana is about the death of a very young girl, Menma, whose death causes her friends to separate. When she comes back as a spirit ten years later, they’re forced to come together again for her sake and to retrieve their own self-worth. AnoHana is a slice-of-life story about recovering confidence and faith in one’s self, while exploring the impact of trauma on children. Read the rest of this entry →

Clearly there are not enough people talking about comics these days, so my good friend, Matthew Ishii and I decided to make our own podcast called Indirect Market. We talk about one broad topic in the comics industry every week and explore it to the best of our ability. Which, to be fair, isn’t much ability at all. The topic can range from shonen manga to costume changes in DC. This episode’s issue is Resets and Retools! Of course we’re focusing on Flashpoint for DC and the Death of Ultimate Spider-Man for Marvel. Both of these are spectacular events that require in depth commentary.

It doesn’t take a lot to sell audience back their past, proven by George Lucas’ nearly clockwork re-releases of the Star Wars movies. Yet, this is no repacking of old nostalgia, as JJ Abrams manages to sell America back its childhood with style. Super 8 is a heartwarming film, that works as a clear homage to ET and the sub-genre of action-adventure films mastered by Steven Spielberg. Abrams uses the mid-eighties scenery and strained father-son relationship for his own purposes, and the result is an enjoyable hour and fifty minutes. It doesn’t quite meet Spielberg’s high standard, but it’s close. Super 8 is one of the best blockbusters to come out this summer, and is easily one of the most memorable. Read the rest of this entry →

I was that the launch party for David Lester’s “The Listener” at Type Books last Friday, and it turned out to be pretty damn weird. I should have realized that it was not going to be a typical Question and Anwser launch when Lester pulled out his guitar and started to play his book out in song form. Here’s a good sample below. Read the rest of this entry →

In a refreshing turn of events, last week Marvel published “15 Love” is a new comic from Andi Watson about tennis. Weird, right? I was wondering where Spider-Man was until they told me it was ” TEENAGE TENNIS ACTION AS ONLY MIGHTY MARVEL CAN DELIVER! “. Turns out, Mill Collins is a bottom ranked tennis player at Wayne’s Tennis Academy, close to getting kicked out for her terrible scores. Right as she fears the worst, a strange man named Walt offers to train Mill to win her next game and increase her rank. It’s a simple underdog sports comic, and until the last two pages, it plays out like one. The cliffhanger at the end hooked me in, but not enough to save the rest from being run of the mill.

Despite the lack of originality when it comes to the premise, the execution is actually not bad. I can say right now that I recommend it to people who are looking for something different from superhero comic, and perhaps something a lot more Japanese. Read the rest of this entry →

The Ultimate Universe whirls towards the conclusion of the Death of Ultimate Spider-Man in this issue, as Peter Parker fights off the Sinister Six. Peter was severely injured two issues back, and arrives home just in time to see Bobby Drake thrown through a window and the Human Torch snuffed out. It’s up to him to defend his neighborhood and his life from the Six.

Set in the back drop of Fear Itself, Loki continues to scheme his way to a revolution in Asgard. Odin has become paranoid now that the serpent has revealed himself, calling for war, with Thor as the few voices against him. Loki, a sympathetic character since his resurrection, is trying to overthrow Odin so that Thor can take charge. He’s already freed Thor from his prison and is now set to turn underworld against the all-father.

Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo have all just finished their press conferences, and man, was it a good show this year. We got interesting developments from all sides, regarding new games and innovations coming for Xbox 360, PS3, PSVita and now the Wii U.

Admittedly, Microsoft had the least to show to people, since they don’t have a new console or handheld coming out any time soon. They also had the least to prove however since all they needed to do was validate Kinect and the sustainability of their platform, not an entirely new device.